When Yaakov Saw Angels in the Rainstorm

My 3-year-old Yaakov loves to sing. This past Shabbat he serenaded us all with a song his ganenet sang for him in gan. Or, to be more accurate, a song Yaakov heard his ganenet sing:

“Kol HaOlam Kulo, Gesher Tsav Meod! Gesher Tsav Meod!”

“Yaakov,” I asked him, “What do you mean? Gesher Tsav meod?”

Yaakov explained, in that channeling-Ganenet-Ruchama voice I’ve heard so frequently this year: “Eema, listen, tsav is that animal that walks very, very slooowly.”

Thus, Yaakov’s version of this famous Rebbe Nachman quotation means:

“All of the world is a bridge that is very much a turtle! Very much a turtle!”

Hmmm, the world is a bridge that is very much a turtle? That doesn’t sound like such a safe way to be crossing over the ravines or rivers or racing highways of life.

But please, no worries, JewishMOM. “The main thing,” Rebbe Nachman implores us, “is to have no fear at all!”

Yesterday after gan pick-up, Yaakov, 5-year-old Tsofia, 1-year-old Yonatan and I waited out the rainstorm eating cheese-covered rice cakes and cucumber spears on a covered bench in the entrance to an apartment building.

At one point I noticed about 6 Chassidim walking down the street, heading from their yeshiva to the bus stop. As is the accepted custom in Jerusalem, the Chassidim wore plastic bags over their hats to protect them from the rain.

I pointed out the Chassidim to my kids who were crunching on their rice cakes, “Look, do you see those men wearing bags on their hats?”

Yaakov said, “They are angels!”

“Why do you think they are angels?”

“Because angels wear bags on their heads!” Yaakov explained.

This was getting interesting. “Yaakov, why do angels wear bags on their heads.”

Yaakov upturned his little hands and said in that stating-the-obvious tone used by mother’s talking to 3-year-olds and, in my family, visa versa: “Eema, angels wear bags on their heads so they don’t get wet in the rain.”

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